1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for conveying product, and more particularly to conveying product in sorting and/or sequencing operations.
2. Background Description
The delivery of mail pieces such as letters, catalogs, advertisements, parcels, bundles, packages, and a host of other product, has increased exponentially over the years. These mail pieces are known to be critical to commerce and the underlying economy. It is thus critical to commerce and the underlying economy to provide efficient delivery of such mail pieces in both a cost effective and time efficient manner. This includes, for example, sorting and/or sequencing mail pieces for delivery. By efficiently sorting and sequencing mail pieces, the delivery of mail and other product can be provided in an orderly and effective manner.
The sorting and sequencing of mail is a very complex, time consuming task. In general, the sorting and sequencing of mail is processed though many stages, including processes which sort or sequence the mail in delivery order sequence. These processes can either be manual or automated, depending on the sorting facility, the type of product to be sorted such as packages, flats and letters and the like. A host of other factors may also contribute to the automation of the sorting, from budgetary concerns to modernization initiatives to access to appropriate technologies to a host of other factors.
In general, however, most modern mail handling facilities have taken major steps toward automation by the implementation of a number of technologies. These technologies include, amongst others, letter sorters, parcel sorters, advanced tray conveyors, flat sorters and the like. As a result of these developments, postal facilities and other handling facilities have become quite automated over the years, considerably reducing overhead costs. Without these automated systems, it would be virtually impossible for the postal system such as the United States Postal Service (USPS) to efficiently deliver mail pieces in a time sensitive and cost efficient manner. But, further developments must still be made in order to ever increase throughput and capacity of these automated systems.
In known automated systems, the mail pieces are provided in random order to the postal service or other mail handling facility. At these mail facilities, the mail pieces are then sorted and/or sequenced in delivery point order by many different, complex processes and systems. In one type of automated system, for example, an Automated Package Processing System (APPS) is utilized such as those designed and manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corporation.
A sorting and/or sequencing system has input feeders that receive a random stream of mail pieces and gather information about each individual mail piece, such as, for example, the delivery destination. The input feeders utilize optical character recognition (OCR), bar code recognition (BCR), handwritten recognition, and/or image capture for determining delivery information (i.e., address, zip code, etc.) associated with each mail piece.
A controller receives the information associated with each mail piece from the input feeders, and tracks the position of each mail piece as it moves from the input feeders onto an endless conveyor. The controller, which comprises a predetermined sorting and sequencing scheme (e.g., a software algorithm), controls the endless conveyor and various cross-belt sorters to move the mail pieces into appropriate discharge chutes based upon the sorting and sequencing scheme using the information captured from the mail piece (e.g., delivery address). In this manner, mail pieces may be sorted and/or sequenced according to the sorting and sequencing scheme.
A sorting and/or sequencing system typically has two to four input feeders and about three hundred discharge chutes. However, use in industry has revealed a need for more discharge chutes, such as, for example, four hundred, six hundred, or more, discharge chutes. Moreover, experience has shown that simply increasing the amount of input feeders and discharge chutes in the sorting and/or sequencing system is not economically feasible due to a significant amount of re-design that would be required.
Accordingly, it has been proposed to link two conventional sorting and/or sequencing systems together by conveying mail pieces from at least one discharge chute of a first sorting and/or sequencing system to an input feeder of a second sorting and/or sequencing system. However, simply conveying mail pieces from a discharge chute of a first sorting and/or sequencing system to a second sorting and/or sequencing system introduces inefficiencies into the sorting system. For example, the information that was gathered at the input feeders of the first sorting and/or sequencing system is lost during conveyance between the first and second sorting and/or sequencing systems. Thus, each mail piece that is conveyed to the second sorting and/or sequencing system must be run through an input feeder of the second sorting and/or sequencing system so that the information of the product can be recaptured and processed for use in the second sorting and/or sequencing system. Also, there is no coordination between the two systems.
By using two systems in the above manner, the mail pieces are fed through a feeder twice, which increases damage to the mail pieces. Also, known optical recognition systems typically have a reliability of approximately 70%; however, by having to read the mail pieces twice, the rate is multiplied by itself, thereby dramatically reducing the read rate and thus requiring more manual operations. That is, the read rate is decreased and an operator may have to manually read the destination codes and manually sort the mail when the scanner is unable to accurately read the destination code, address or other information associated with the mail pieces two consecutive times. Additionally, bar code labeling and additional sorting steps involves additional processing time and sorting and/or sequencing system overhead as well as additional operator involvement. This all leads to added costs and processing times.
Accordingly, there is a need for more efficient linking of sorting and/or sequencing systems at facilities, such as, for example, warehouses, postal facilities, etc.